Does Pavel Datsyuk have the greatest highlight reel of all time?

[grentthealien]

I was watching a video of a rugby player with no knowledge of the NHL watching Datsyuk highlights on YouTube and then this thread title came to me. Datsyuk’s ability do things in games that would get you out of your seat was so incredible that anyone who doesn’t watch Hockey will still get why he is a special player by watching just a small sample size of his highlights. There are literally hours upon hours of Datsyuk highlights on the internet to watch and it seems to me that he has the most footage available to put together the most comprehensive highlight reel today of any player.

Now I will break this down into two questions because the biggest thing here is that he was a highly skilled player that begun playing just when YouTube and video sharing was starting to become easily accessible on the internet which is a privilege a lot of greats didn’t have and if there is footage the footage we have isn’t the best quality and is often grainy and discoloured. So with that in mind I have only two simple questions.

1. Which modern day players(1990-2018) do you think has the most impressive highlights?

2. Which players do you think would rival or even surpass the highlights of today’s players if they grew up during the dawn of the internet?

Now I want it to be clear that I know this will be an extremely subjective thread and there really is no definitive answer. I’m just curious to see which players you guys think had the ability to get people out of their seats the most. Anyway, I look forward to your replies and feel free to post YouTube clips if you want as well after all there are a good variety of them spanning from at least the 70s to now.

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[VanIslander]

 

[VanIslander]

Which players do you think would rival or even surpass the highlights of today’s players if they grew up in during the dawn of the internet?

Cyclone Taylor.

He was known as a huge drawing power for attendance and the press wrote about him across the continent.

His speed and cleverness and dominance raised the roof, with fans known to stand throughout entire games when he came to town. Some argue that Newsy Lalonde was a better player, but it's clear who was the superstar in everyone's eyes during most games. The league thrived because of his play.

 

[Claypool]

Pavel Datsyuk is the perfect player to show non-hockey, YouTube generation how much skill can ooze out of this game. No matter what your background or interest in sports is, everyone will be amazed by Datsyuk.

 

[Asheville]

No. Mario Lemieux. Next.

 

[VanIslander]

On second thought,... a complilation of Gretzky's greatest passes would be stunning (too many highlight top-10 lists focus on players' goals).

 

[grentthealien]

No. Mario Lemieux. Next.

After watching this it is hard to disagree. It is crazy how he abused Ray Bourque.

 

[The Panther]

Let's be clear here -- Datsyuk was amazing and deserves his high-ranking, but the guy with the greatest highlight reel of all-time is also the greatest player of all time: Wayne Gretzky with the Edmonton Oilers (and throw in the first few seasons with the Kings, though they aren't necessary). Gretzky did something amazing pretty much every game for about 10 years. Sometimes he did four or five amazing things in a game. Many of these were things nobody had ever seen.

To the casual fan, I can understand why Datsyuk's or Mario Lemieux's dangling through 3 players looks more impressive on YouTube -- it's easier to see one guy beating other guys, in the same way a home-run is easier to get excited watching than a great pitching display for eight innings --, but Gretzky's unparalleled ability to find open ice and make every one of his teammates a dangerous player and a threat to score would be (if only we had more of it and in high-density) the greatest highlight reel (if such things are important).

 

[BenchBrawl]

Cyclone Taylor.

He was known as a huge drawing power for attendance and the press wrote about him across the continent.

His speed and cleverness and dominance raised the roof, with fans known to stand throughout entire games when he came to town. Some argue that Newsy Lalonde was a better player, but it's clear who was the superstar in everyone's eyes during most games. The league thrived because of his play.

Add Georges Boucher for his amazing stickhandling.He would surely have a great highlight reel collection.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Let's be clear here -- Datsyuk was amazing and deserves his high-ranking, but the guy with the greatest highlight reel of all-time is also the greatest player of all time: Wayne Gretzky with the Edmonton Oilers (and throw in the first few seasons with the Kings, though they aren't necessary). Gretzky did something amazing pretty much every game for about 10 years. Sometimes he did four or five amazing things in a game. Many of these were things nobody had ever seen.

To the casual fan, I can understand why Datsyuk's or Mario Lemieux's dangling through 3 players looks more impressive on YouTube -- it's easier to see one guy beating other guys, in the same way a home-run is easier to get excited watching than a great pitching display for eight innings --, but Gretzky's unparalleled ability to find open ice and make every one of his teammates a dangerous player and a threat to score would be (if only we had more of it and in high-density) the greatest highlight reel (if such things are important).

Hey I agree Gretzky's highlights are just as interesting if not more.The problem is there's not enough of it.We'd need more videos.What's up with that anyway? 2018 and we still don't have access to the entire NHL footage of past seasons.It's a joke.

 

[Michael Farkas]

A lot of CBC games were taped over to save on film I believe...

 

[BenchBrawl]

A lot of CBC games were taped over to save on film I believe...

LOL

 

[Tarantula]

HM goes to Kent Nillson, Minny and Calgary. Highlites were not common during the early 80's and HNIC ran a few of them with him during a intermission, with Do You Believe In Magic playing in the background, left a impression on me. I tried googling some of his highlites but didn't find much.
Honarable mention

 

[DDRhockey]

peter forsberg

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

I actually think the question is quite simple. Yes, Datsyuk does have the best highlight reel available, because dangling and dekes look best on a compilation. Lemieux might rival him in that and obviously was better than him as an overall player, but Datsyuk simply played consistently i.e. game in, game out with a lot of focus on finesse and artistry when in puck possession. As a result, he was more spectacular to watch than all those guys who in an overall evaluation would be rated above him.

 

[Fantomas]

Gretzky might be the greatest of all time, but his highlights don't look nearly as good as Datsyuk's.

 

[danincanada]

Mario, Orr, and Wayne have arguments but I had the pleasure to watch nearly every game of Datyuk's NHL career and it's got to be up there. Someone could make a highlight package of just him stripping the puck off the opposition and most of those were on the back check. He did lots of insane things and the most amazing aspect to me was that he usually pulled it off most of the time. It's not like he was constantly trying to do things that didn't work for him and the resulting highlight package is just from the times it worked. His success rate was very high most of the time.

Watching him live in his prime was crazy. Even just seeing him fly down the ice and taking a hard pass off his skate, which somehow went right to his stick. Things like that is what made people call him a magician. The other players knew how hard the things he was doing were, which is why he was so respected and fellow players were fans.

My favourite player along with Fedorov. I feel lucky for getting to watch those two. It was like they had alien technology (for hockey) when I first saw them. Fedorov for his skating and doing things at high speed and Datsyuk for that magic stick and elusiveness. Both were worth the price of admission on their own.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Bobby Orr just skating circles around teams.

Forsberg owning pucks below the goal lines. Him and Crosby are king at that.

Datsyuk dangling.

Alex Kovalev did some pretty unthinkable things on a hockey rink.

I like watching Bergeron a lot. His positioning and backchecking

 

[BenchBrawl]

I wish they would do a great Guy Lafleur highlight reel video.He has too few of them.

 

[Bustedprospect]

Pavel's possession and deking up close is the best of all time. It was so great that he could win Selkes just by stealing the puck and playing around with other players. His style is totally unique and nothing like i have seen.

 

[streitz]

Lemieux. To anyone who actually watched hockey in the 80's and 90's there isn't any other valid option.




Pavel was good but overrated by the younger generation of fans.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Respectfully, Datsyuk is to this generation what Forsberg was to the previous...have a ton of respect for both, but one day, a decade from now, there's gonna be some 12 or 13 minute video of Datsyuk that inflates his stature beyond belief...and we're all gonna have to watch it a thousand times and then we'll have to convince the next generation that he wasn't a top-10 player of all time or anything silly like that...

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Respectfully, Datsyuk is to this generation what Forsberg was to the previous...have a ton of respect for both, but one day, a decade from now, there's gonna be some 12 or 13 minute video of Datsyuk that inflates his stature beyond belief...and we're all gonna have to watch it a thousand times and then we'll have to convince the next generation that he wasn't a top-10 player of all time or anything silly like that...

The thing with Datsyuk is to understand the distinction between a great hockey player and a great stickhandler/deker. I don't want to dismiss Datsyuk's overall game, but it clearly wasn't at a top 10 all-time level. Datsyuk never had the size or physical instincts to do the stuff a Lemieux, Jagr or Forsberg could do, he wasn't as good a playmaker as Gretzky or as fast a skater as many others, his shot wasn't as dangerous as that of Ovechkin and so forth.

However, in terms of what he frequently and regularly was able to do with the puck, Datsyuk doesn't have to hide behind anyone in history. And that's what a highlight reel captures best. The question in this thread isn't one of Datsyuk's overall level as a player, it's a question of visuals. Too many silver hairs here feel stepped on their toes here because it's lèse-majesté to them for people to suggest their heroes weren't the best at everything.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

 

[streitz]

Too many silver hairs here feel stepped on their toes here because it's lèse-majesté to them for people to suggest their heroes weren't the best at everything.

Or maybe because a guy who never cracked 100 points, 40 goals and only 90 points twice wasn't as good as players who shattered these every season, some two times over.




I'm willing to bet Lemieux had more highlight reel goals and points in his 1987-89 season's then Datsyuk's entire career. Proving this is impossible however due to Lemieux playing before every game was readily available on the internet(Unless someone had a couple hundred 80's pens games on tape).